“He is of our generation, so he’s someone I’ve been conscience of I guess since the mid 80’s,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ frontman told SONiC. “You never expect a contemporary who is alive and well and still playing to suddenly check out like that. I can’t say I took him for granted, but it was kind of shocking. We have a relationship with him and the rest of Soundgarden because we went on tour with them in 1992 on Lollapalooza. They were just a bunch of sweethearts, and we got to see them constantly.”

“It was nice to see them back together,” he continued “and crushing to know that he was in a painful place in his mind to the point where he could want to take his own life. And I don’t judge him for that because I don’t know that kind of pain. Obviously, it has to be overwhelming in order to want to leave. Bless his family, he left the world a better place.”